Killer whales have always held a special place
in the hearts of animal lovers. They're majestic, extremely intelligent, and
can communicate with each other, enabling them to coordinate their hunting.

They're at the top of the food chain—and they
use any means necessary in the pursuit of their prey. But sometimes that can
out bad.

This was definitely the case for a killer whale
off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. But luckily, some animal lovers
discovered what happened and acted quickly.

In the summer of 2015, a pod of killer whales
was out chasing after breakfast on the Hartley Bay coast.

But as the tide was going out, one of them must
have ridden a wave over some rocks and got stuck. The rocks were sharp and she
couldn't move. And as the hours passed, the situation got worse and worse.

The killer whale was stressed and couldn't stop
crying.

But fortunately, a man heard her cries before it
was to late.

He called a group of volunteers to come to the
giant mammal's side.

They laid blankets over her to protect her from
the sun. Then, they used hoses and buckets to pour water over her and keep her
from drying out.

The killer whale quickly realized that the
people weren't going to hurt her.

"At first she was stressed out—you could
see that her breathing was getting a little faster. But after a little while, I
think she knew that we were there to help her," said a rescuer named
George Fisher.

Since the killer whale was so large, it was
impossible to move her. And even if they could have dragged her, the rocks were
sharp and would have cut her up.

The only thing that her rescuers could do was
keep her wet and protected from the sun until tide came back.

Then after being stuck for eight hours, the
killer whale was finally able to swim in freedom!

The rescue team cheered when she broke free and
swam off. What heroes they are!

They stayed with the whale for several hours,
and if they hadn't acted so quickly, the killer whale might have died before
the tide came back.

"We all cared about this whale and we were
just very lucky to give that whale another chance," researcher Hermann
Meuter, who also helped with the rescue, told the CBC.

See the wonderful rescue here:

These heroes really deserve to be
celebrated. Don't forget to share their story with all of your friends who love
animals!